


your own story is the safest place you'll ever be

by justwannabeafangirl



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV), The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, also i don't know which characters from the good place if any i'm going to write, at first but there will be some fluff in there too, fluff is kind of my expertise, i have a general idea of where this is going but not all of the specifics are planned out yet, or if i'm going to add any other ships from brooklyn nine nine, this is an adventure for both of us then
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-16 08:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13632684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justwannabeafangirl/pseuds/justwannabeafangirl
Summary: Jake and Amy die while on a case. Amy is sent to the Good Place, but she soon realizes that Jake isn't there with her. Since the Good Place can't ever be perfect for her without Jake, she does anything and everything she can to find him before she loses him forever.Told (mostly) from the POVs of Amy and Jake.The title comes from "Safest Place" by Echosmith.





	1. amy

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for a Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Good Place crossover fic came from [ this](http://startofamoment.tumblr.com/post/169413299916/startofamoment-i-had-the-craziest-b99-tgp) incredible tumblr post. The storyline will not follow this at all, it just gave me the overall idea. Now I kind of want to cross every fandom over with the Good Place, but more on that another time. Enjoy : )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy arrives in the Good Place with no recollection of how she died.

Amy was too happy to die.

Her and Jake’s first wedding anniversary had been only a few weeks before, and they’d just started talking about the possibility of having a child together. Since the wedding, she’d woken up every morning with a smile on her face, no matter how little sleep or how much alcohol she’d consumed the night before. Yes, Amy woke up smiling even with a freaking hangover.

She figured that’s what marrying your soulmate did to a person.

Not a day went by without Amy spending at least five minutes staring at her wedding ring and her engagement ring stacked neatly on top of each other on her left ring finger. Sometimes Jake would even take her hand as they ate dinner together and stare at them for a while, too; she loved it when he held her ring hand against his own. Everything was wonderful, and Amy was sure that if someone asked her if her life was perfect, she would say that it, in fact, was.

And then, because everything good must come to an end, everything went wrong.

They’d been on a date that night. They’d just finished their dinner at one of the fanciest restaurants in Brooklyn (Jake had treated her that night just because) when Jake’s phone buzzed with a call from Captain Holt.

“Yes, Captain?” Jake had responded. Amy had assumed it was just a routine update on something that was going on at work; they’d taken the night off that night, but everyone else was still working hard as usual. But when Jake’s face fell from the brightest grin to the darkest frown, she knew something was wrong.

“Okay, sir, we’ll be right there.” Jake hung up, reaching into his wallet for some cash and throwing it on the table. “Hopefully that’ll be enough,” he muttered, standing up.

“Babe, what’s going on?” Amy asked.

“There’s no time to explain. I need to go to the precinct,” Jake said quickly.

“I’m coming with you.”

“No, Ames, I don’t want to risk losing you.”

“Wait, if this is a live endangering situation, I am most definitely coming with you. Don’t try and stop me, especially because we took my car to this restaurant tonight.” She held up her keys in triumph.

Jake sighed. “Fine, babe, let’s go, but we seriously need to pray we both make it out of here alive if we plan on having a child. Or, you know, in general. Living is good.”

“I don’t even want to think about that right now. Come on, we have to get to the precinct right away!” They ran out the door, flashing their badges at the restaurant’s employees and shouting a quick explanation about their rapid and very impolite exit.

That was the last thing Amy Santiago remembered. After that, her adrenaline had kicked in and her brain was working way too hard to record any of it. And now, here she was, sitting on a couch and looking at a green wall with the words “Welcome! Everything is fine.” written in a neat white font. Immediately her logical brain raced to figure out where she was and how much time had passed since she and Jake had left the restaurant. Maybe it was a hospital? Or a therapy center? And speaking of Jake, where was Jake? She looked around, thinking that maybe he was sitting elsewhere in the room or pacing as he always did when he was nervous, but he was nowhere to be found. A knot formed in her stomach and tightened.

A door opened and her head automatically turned to look at the person who walked into the room. It was a dark-skinned woman with dark, wavy hair tied up into a bun. She wore a smart pantsuit (Amy definitely approved) and carried a clipboard in her arms. The woman walked over to the desk in front of Amy, her heels clip-clopping against the floor.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry I’m late!” she said dramatically, tossing the clipboard onto the desk. “I cannot even tell you how bad the stupid portals were today. I don’t know what was going on today, but it took forever to get anywhere. I’m just so glad I made it here at all.” She paused, giving Amy a once-over as if just noticing her sitting there. “I’m Jeanette,” she said, extending her right hand for Amy to shake. “Were you waiting here long?”

“Oh, no, not at all,” Amy said to be polite. In reality, it had felt like at least an hour. And wait, Amy could have been making this up, but did Jeanette say something about portals?

“Oh, good. I can’t even imagine being stuck in this room alone for more than, like, five minutes. I’d feel terrible if someone had to go through that.” She shuddered. “Anyway, let’s get down to business.”

“To defeat the Huns?” Amy automatically muttered to herself, holding back laughter. Jake had really rubbed off on her.

“Did you say something, hun?” Jeanette asked.

“Oh, no, please continue.”

Jeanette raised her eyebrows but didn’t question Amy further. “Okay, I’m sure you’re wondering where you are and what you’re doing here. You, Amy Santiago, are dead.”

Amy’s heart lurched. (Wait, if she was dead, did she even have a heart? Did that saying even apply?) “Wait, what? How? When?”

“Shhhh, don’t panic. You’ll find out in due time. Right now, you need to relax. You’re in good hands.” Jeanette smiled, but Amy couldn’t tell if it was sincere or if it was hiding wicked intentions. She decided to trust her for now at least.

“Can I know where I am at least?” Amy asked.

“You’re in the Good Place.”

“So, like, heaven?”

“Well, not exactly. Nobody on Earth ever got the idea quite right. But yeah, I guess this is pretty close.”

Amy nodded, sighing in relief. It still didn’t help her worry about Jake, though. “So how does this all work?”

“Well, everything that you do in life has a point value. Depending on what it is, it either has a negative or positive point value. So, for example, saving Jake from Figgus added a lot of points to your score, but having an obsession with office supplies took a bunch of points away from your score. I’m sorry,” Jeanette said when she saw Amy’s face fall. “I don’t make the rules; I just enforce them.”

“Jake thought it was cute,” she muttered under her breath so Jeanette couldn’t hear her. Then, louder, she said, “So how do you decide who goes up and who goes down?”

“Your points have to be at least a certain amount to make it here, to the Good Place. Very few people qualify to be here, so you’re very lucky, Amy.” She beamed at Amy. Amy was still a bit skeptical, but she didn’t respond. “Would you like to see the neighborhood?”

“Sure,” she replied.

Jeanette stood, gesturing for Amy to follow her. She opened the large set of double doors behind Amy, and the two of them exited to the cobblestoned street outside. “This is your neighborhood,” Jeanette said. “It has everything you will ever need or want for the rest of eternity. Yes, even office supply stores. It did take points away from your score, but you did so much good during your life that you made it here, so you get to have office supplies whenever you’d like.” Amy grinned. “There are also various food places, like your favorite Polish place, for example, and Shaw’s bar. I know you made a lot of your favorite memories there.” Amy nodded in agreement. “And if there’s anything else you need that you can’t find here for some reason, Janet is always here to help you. Janet?” she called, her steady pace coming to a stop for a moment.

There was a “bloop” kind of sound, and a woman with dark brown hair and a professional-looking uniform appeared. “Yes?”

“This is Janet,” Jeanette said to Amy. “She’s not human. She’s an all-knowing system that can provide you with anything you need or want. For example,” she paused for a moment, her fingers against her chin in thought. Her eyes brightened when she thought of an idea. “Janet, can I have one of those Krispy Kreme donuts that they only sell in the winter?” Janet disappeared.

“But it’s not winter,” Amy said. “At least I don’t think it is.”

“It’s not,” Jeanette said as Janet reappeared with the exact kind of donut she requested. “Which just proves my point. We also don’t really experience seasons here, though. It’s just nice weather all the time. Unless, of course, you want it to snow. All you have to do is ask Janet. But on Earth right now it is not winter, so these donuts aren’t even being produced. You get my point. Want to see your house?”

Amy and Jeanette walked out of the shopping area of the neighborhood and towards the living area. There were a variety of houses, each one completely different than the next. “You’ll notice that none of the houses match,” Jeanette said. “Every house is designed to be perfect for the people living there.”

“People?” Amy asked.

“Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that, didn’t I? Everyone here has a soulmate, someone who is perfect for them in every single way. Humans were right about that, at least. You’ll meet your soulmate when we get to your house.”

“But I already met my soulmate on Earth,” Amy protested. “He’s the only one I want to be with.”

Jeanette ignored her protests, bringing her to a simple house not unlike the one in which she grew up. She walked up to the door, resting her hand against the door. “Ready to go inside?” she asked Amy.

Amy nodded, her stomach churning when she thought about who she might find on the other side and the possibility of it not being Jake.

Jeanette opened the door and led Amy inside. The inside looked like the apartment she shared with Jake, with her carefully placed artwork and furniture exactly the way they were in life. She did notice, though, that everything that Jake had added since moving in a few years earlier was gone. She glanced down at her left hand for a moment, a spike of fear running through her, but her wedding and engagement rings were both still there. She allowed herself a small smile in relief. Maybe all of Jake’s stuff was just in a different room or something.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps, and then a man entered the room. He was tall, with light brown hair, green eyes, and a smattering of freckles across his face. He yawned and stretched, revealing a six-pack under his shirt. Amy narrowed her eyes.

“Amy,” Jeanette said, grinning. “This is your soulmate, Jake.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you guys like this because I think it'll be a lot of fun to write. I haven't written a long chapter fic with an actual storyline in a long time, so this will be quite the adventure but I'm looking forward to it.  
> The storyline isn't completely set in stone or anything yet, so if there's anything specific you'd like to see happen, send me an ask over on my [ tumblr](http://justwannabeafangirl.tumblr.com) and I will do my best to fit it into the story : )  
> And, of course, if there's any other fanfiction you'd like me to write, send me an ask!!


	2. amy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy pretends to want to get to know her soulmate, Jake, but it doesn’t take her long to crack and tell him the truth. Fake Jake agrees to help find real Jake, and Amy decides she might be able to like him as a friend. After all, he does love office supplies almost as much as she does.

Amy stood there looking blankly at Jeanette for a moment, waiting for the punchline. When it never came, she tried to force a smile onto her face, but she just couldn’t do it. Everything just felt so _wrong_. Jeanette noticed Amy’s frozen state and laughed, attempting to dispel the awkwardness that had arisen in the house. “Don’t worry, Jakey, she’s just nervous,” she said, but Amy could see right through her facade; the fear in her light brown eyes gave her away immediately.

Amy was very tempted to stand up to Jeanette and demand that she be allowed to see Jake, _her_ Jake, but she felt bad for Jeanette and knew that she was simply doing her job. After all, Amy would never have gotten into the Good Place if she had ignored someone’s fear when she could do something about it. She chose instead to play along at least for now. She and Fake Jake, as she had decided to call him, would sort this all out later.

With a smile pasted on her face, it was time to get into her role of Amy Santiago, Fake Jake’s girlfriend. She’d never been good at acting, but now was as good a time as any to give it another go. “Yeah!” she began. “I am just _so_ overwhelmed by all of this. It’s just _so_ _forking incredible_ and you’re so _wonderful_ and _cute_ and oh my gosh am I _blushing_?” Did she sound too fake? She definitely sounded too fake. Also, why couldn’t she curse?

Thankfully, Jeanette and Jake didn’t even bat an eye. Jeanette mostly just looked grateful. “There’s no need to be overwhelmed, babe,” Fake Jake said, and Amy bristled. “Babe” was Jake’s nickname for her, and anyone else saying it felt so wrong. But she held it together because if she didn’t, she had no idea what was going to happen and she did _not_ want to find out. “We’re soulmates, and we have the rest of eternity to get to know each other. You don’t have to worry about impressing me; the file they sent over already has. Want to come sit in the living room with me so we can begin our afterlife together?”

Amy would rather drink eight shots and then throw up for ten hours straight with a hangover than pretend to be this guy’s soulmate. “Of course, Jakey, that sounds wonderful,” Amy replied, temporarily borrowing Charles’s nickname for her Jake that he’d always used back in the precinct. She silently begged Jeanette to leave so she could get down to business with Fake Jake. No, _not_ like that. She would die first, that is, if she wasn’t already dead. But that wasn’t the point.

Fake Jake extended his hand to her, and Amy assumed it was an invitation for a professional handshake, so she took it, but before she knew what was happening, he pulled her into a twirl and then into his chest. Amy was dizzy for a moment, but managed to regain her senses quickly enough to slap a smile back onto her face. “Whoa, careful there!” she giggled. This was disgusting.

Jeanette narrowed her eyes, but it happened so quickly, Amy would have missed it if she’d blinked. Her perky demeanor returned, and she moved a piece of hair out of her face before she spoke again. “Well then, since you both seem to be okay, I will leave you two to it!” She winked, spinning on her heel and walking outside of the house.

As soon as she was gone, Amy carefully untangled herself from Fake Jake’s surprisingly muscular arms and brushed herself off, letting her mask fall just a little bit. “Shall we?” she asked, gesturing to the living room of her apartment, no, wait, her _house_. This was all just way too weird.

“Sure. Right this way,” Fake Jake replied, taking her hand and leading her through the entryway into the living room of the house. Her first instinct was to pull her hand away, but she didn’t have the heart. Holding hands with someone could be friendly, right?

They sat down together on the worn blue couch, the one that she and her Jake would sit on to watch _Jeopardy_ together. Or, at least, she would sit on it to watch _Jeopardy_. Jake would sit on it to watch her, and kiss her, and occasionally pay attention to _Jeopardy_ , but only if the question was somehow related to _Die Hard_. Fake Jake was still holding her hand. Amy was becoming less and less tolerant of it.

“So, want to talk about how you died?” Fake Jake asked.

Should she tell him that she doesn’t remember? Is she supposed to remember? Jeanette didn’t go over this when she gave Amy her Good Place orientation. “Um, not really,” she replied eventually, deciding to play it safe for now.

“Okay, that’s fine. How about…” Fake Jake thought for a moment. “What’s your favorite office supplies store?”

She swore her jaw almost dropped. She took a deep breath, trying to hold back her excitement, but she just couldn’t. “Oh my gosh, you can’t just have me pick one! Every single one is so different and so great and you can find so many different things at each one and I just like to _explore_ them, you know?” She paused for a breath, the hand held in Fake Jake’s flying to her mouth. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know where that came from. I swear, I’m not this much of a nerd —”

“I can’t choose one, either,” Fake Jake replied, grinning. Amy’s words died in her throat. “I just love looking at all the different options. And once a month, I let myself buy a new kind of pen or a new notebook, even if I totally don’t need it at all whatsoever!”

Amy couldn’t help but match Fake Jake’s grin. “I have no self control whenever I get near an office supply store! My husband Jake has to physically pull me away from the door so I don’t go in and blow my entire salary on office supplies. But sometimes he surprises me with something that I had mentioned really liking or something that he had noticed me looking at on the shelves. He’s the sweetest.” She stopped, realizing what she had just said. Fake Jake smiled like nothing was wrong, but she couldn’t help but notice that his left eye twitched just slightly. Amy sighed. He had a right to be annoyed at her. She just went on and on about her husband in a conversation with the guy who is literally supposed to be her soulmate. “Oh, God, I’m so sorry,” she said, her face falling into her hands.

“No, Amy, it’s okay.” Fake Jake pulled her hands away from her face and held them in his. All Amy could think about was how darn relieved she was that he hadn’t called her Ames. She would have broken down.

“No, it’s not.” She sighed, pulling her hands away and resting them in her lap. “I can’t do this anymore. Can you keep a secret?”

“Sure, what’s up? Do you need to talk about something? Are you feeling okay?”

“I can’t believe I’m about to say this and I wouldn’t be surprised if I was kicked out of the Good Place for saying this to you, but you’re not my soulmate. I don’t love you.” She bit her lip. Once upon a time, when she was a younger and she had yet to meet Jake, _her_ Jake, this guy would have been her dream. A physically attractive guy who loved office supplies as much as she did and didn’t think she was weird? Oh my _God_. But the thing was, it hadn’t worked out that way. Even though she and Jake were two very different people, they were also so much more alike than meets the eye, and no matter what, they were always there for each other. That’s all that mattered. Maybe this guy would have been her younger self’s soulmate, but her soulmate was, without a doubt, Jake Peralta.

Fake Jake blinked at her. “Wait, what? How can that be?”

“Were you married in life?” Amy asked.

“No. I was dating a girl, though,” he replied.

“Well, as you can probably figure out from my excited babble, I was, I _am_ , happily married to Jake Peralta. He’s my real soulmate.”

“Oh.” Fake Jake paused. “I really don’t know how to respond to that.”

“You seem like a really great guy, though, and in another life we could have ended up together, but unfortunately I’m happily taken. I’d love to be friends, though, and I’d also really appreciate your help.”

“I mean, this is kind of disappointing for me since I’ve been waiting for my soulmate to arrive since I got here two years ago and I’ve been looking forward to meeting her, to meeting _you_ , but I can’t stand between you and true love. I’d force _myself_ out of the Good Place for that.” Fake Jake took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Let me know what I can do to help you.”

“Oh, God, thank you. And I really hope there’s some kind of way for you to find another soulmate. Actually,” she thought for a moment, “Janet, is it possible for someone to get a new soulmate once they arrive here?”

With a “bloop”, Janet appeared. “Sorry, no, everyone in the Good Place is perfectly matched up with someone else, so we don’t have a way to reassign soulmates. And we assume we shouldn’t have to because everyone is paired with their perfect match.”

Amy sighed. “Thanks, Janet.” She disappeared. Amy looked deep into Fake Jake’s eyes. “I figured it was worth a try.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” Fake Jake replied, his fingers automatically reaching for Amy’s before he remembered what was happening and pulled them away. “What are we going to do?”

“I have no forking idea,” she replied. “But for now, we should definitely not let Jeanette realize what’s going on. I think she’s already onto me a little bit.”

“Do you have any idea where Jake is right now? Is he still alive?”

“I have no idea. The last thing I remember is that the two of us left our date to go to the precinct because of an emergency. We’re both cops,” she explained.

“I know. I looked at your file, remember?”

Amy’s eyes lit up with an idea. “Wait, did the file have anything about my Jake in there?”

Fake Jake frowned. “No, I don’t believe so. We can look at it later if you’d like. It’s in my, _our_ , room.”

Amy nodded. “Okay. We need to keep this quiet, but hopefully we’ll be able to figure out what’s going on.”

Fake Jake nodded, too. Amy let out a shuddering breath, lost in thought. As much as she hated to believe there was a flaw in the system, there was no other explanation. She was going to find out who did this and do everything in her power to find Jake, no matter what it took. After all, what did she have to lose?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I started writing this the other day and just could not stop because ideas kept popping into my head. It was awesome.  
> 2\. I always had the idea for Amy’s soulmate to be named Jake just to mess with her, but I just automatically started calling him Fake Jake while writing this and it just stuck.  
> 3\. I got SO many crazy ideas for this fic while writing this so definitely keep checking back here for more every week if you want to know what stuff I have planned : )
> 
> Visit my [tumblr](http://justwannabeafangirl.tumblr.com) if you’d like to request a fic or just say hi!! Enjoy : )


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